Mother gets greatest Christmas present of her life – a home of her own

Brad Spiegel

Wednesday

Dec 26, 2007 at 12:01 AM

Lucy Chaisson was able to open her Christmas gift on Christmas Eve. No, she isn’t a child who begged and begged until her parents finally gave in. The 73-year-old was surprised by her entire family -- eight children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren -- Monday night with a new house.

Lucy Chaisson was able to open her Christmas gift on Christmas Eve.

No, she isn’t a child who begged and begged until her parents finally gave in.

The 73-year-old was surprised by her entire family -- eight children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren -- Monday night with a new house.

It goes without saying that a gift of a house it about as good as it gets, but Chaisson might have been more deserving than anyone you can find.

Chaisson has never had a place she could call her own. Forced to raise her eight children -- three of them who are deaf and require special attention -- by herself after she and her husband divorced, she worked cleaning houses and as a seamstress during school hours, and occasionally as a caterer on the weekend.

For most of the past 40 years, the Watertown native has lived in her hometown on Phillip Dodge Road in Veterans housing. It is a nice space -- her youngest son, Paul, is an interior designer and made the condition very livable. For the first five years of her marriage the family lived in Waltham.

Now she is coming back, as a homeowner.

“Oh, my, I’m on Cloud 9,” said Chaisson. “I’m 73 years old, and this first time in my life (I’ve owned a house).

“This has always been a dream (of the family). We worked hard, so this is truly a gift.”

Paul is one who deserves a lot of the credit. Successful as an interior decorator, he was able to purchase the Beal Road home with a little help from the stagnant real estate market. The family always said that if someone wins the lottery, the first thing to do is to buy their mother a house. They didn’t win the big one, but for Chaisson, it’s close enough.

“This has always been with me -- to buy (my mother) a house,” said Paul, who recently built a house in Douglas. “(It’s) something I’ve been working toward (for many years).”

“She always wanted to live near the water or in Waltham, but she never thought it would be possible.”

But Paul doesn’t want to take all the credit. He said his siblings will definitely be able to take credit when they move in their mother in late March or early April. He said his brothers -- Charlie, 51, Bobby, 49, and Joey, 43, will help with the physical work of getting the house ready. His sisters, Cheryl, 52, Denise, 48, Michelle, 47, and Laurie, 40, will assist in cleaning and packing up Lucy’s current home.

Not to be left out is Paul’s partner, James Gearheart, who, Paul said, “allowed him to work the extra days and hours” in order to afford the giant purchase. And, he helped set up the important surprise.

On Christmas Eve, Paul, 41, told his mother they had to stop off to meet a client who was at her future home. At the empty home, the entire family was there waiting in a back room. Paul sat Lucy at a chair and said he would get the “homeowner.” He came back with his siblings and their families. Paul had a two-minute speech, ending with the announcement that his mother was a new homeowner. (Technically, the home is owned by Paul so his mother doesn’t have to pay the taxes of receiving an expensive gift. “But I will never say to her that is my house,” he said.)

“She went without so that we had,” said Cheryl Corbett, the oldest. “I can’t even explain (what this means to everyone). It’s a dream come true. (The family wasn’t) able to sleep for weeks.

“Her reaction was breathtaking. Now she is planning what she going to do with the house. She (already) called friend in Florida and said she will have to come and have a glass of wine on her deck.”

“I couldn’t stop crying and shaking (Monday night),” said Lucy, who was one of 10 Destefano children growing up in Watertown. “Everyone keeps saying I deserve it, and no one deserves it more.

“It will be so nice, I will have a yard. I said to my grandchildren that you can come over and (now) park in a driveway.”

This is one Christmas present that Lucy will be able to enjoy every day.

Daily News Tribune

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